Weekly Progress Update:

Weekly Progress Update:

Happy Sunday, people. Hope everyone is staying warm – some of you might’ve gotten buried under a huge amount of snow this week.

This week has been productive. I’m really glad to finally be back into steady progress, writing at my standard rate of one chapter on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Also, I’ve got some Skirmishes outlined for Cormac and Hagan (Dwarves collection) and wrote Hagan’s first Skirmish. So, lots of things in motion.

On a bit more of a random note, I was talking to my wife the other night about writing motivation. I only write three chapters per week (about 6 hours of work), and my books range between 50 – 70 chapters. This means that I can finish a book’s first draft is 17 – 24 weeks at that steady rate. This means that a first draft only takes me 100 – 140 hours.

I’ve always wanted to write more during the week. I make good progress, and a book per year is actually considered a pretty good timetable. But, at the rate of only 100+ hours per first draft, if I could manage to spend even 20 hours per week writing, I would be able to complete an entire novel’s first draft in just FIVE weeks.

Now, that’s only half the battle. There’s multiple rounds of edits, which equates to another 100+ hours, meaning to actually publish the novel would take twice that time.

Here’s a simplified version:

• (Current) 6 Hours per week: 17 – 24 weeks to completion (1st Draft)
• 20 Hours per week: 5 – 7 weeks to completion
• 30 Hours per week: 4 – 5 weeks to completion
• 40 Hours per week: 3 – 4 weeks to completion

That’s really fast. However, it’s important to remember that those timetables are based on strictly that: time. That doesn’t factor in motivation – or lack thereof, availability, etc. I have a hard time writing for longer than two hours at a time. My attention span usually just can’t stand it, despite writing being something I love.

But, you know what? I want to try it. A taste tester, that is. So, as I was talking to my wife, I’ve decided to use one of my vacation weeks from work and try to write on a strict plan. Six hours per day, Monday – Friday. Theoretically doable, but I’m eager to see if I could actually do so. If I could, in those 30 hours, I should, in theory, be able to tackle 15 chapters in a single week. Hot damn.

I’m not sure when that will be, but it’ll be sometime this year. Alright, sorry – done with the tangent.

This Tuesday (January 21st), the last Skirmish in Bitrayuul’s line gets released. I’m currently editing all of Fangdarr and Bitrayuul’s episodes to be published in an eBook soon. I should be working with my cover illustrator within the next few weeks – which is always my favorite part of the whole process.

Lastly, I’m planning to double the release schedule on Skirmishes, probably releasing the second on Fridays. I need to up the frequency so I can start getting collections out more quickly, as I have a lot planned and don’t want to spend the next five years putting them out.

Until next Sunday!